Natalie S. Richer

Whether she is litigating, obtaining patents or trademark registrations, or negotiating an agreement, Natalie takes a customized approach, thinking carefully about both short and long term strategies that best suit her clients under each unique set of facts. With roots in customer service, she lends individualized attention to clients in a broad range of industries and technologies – including computer hardware and software, communications, medical devices, industrial equipment, and manufacturing, just to name a few. Her consideration of the big picture, coupled with her keen interest in her clients’ business goals, provides critical guidance in managing IP portfolios for startups, large multinational corporations, and everything in-between.

Candid Communication

Natalie works tirelessly to protect her clients’ brands, ideas, and inventions. But she’s also a straight shooter, and won’t hesitate to say when the investment might not be worthwhile. Natalie’s clear and candid communication saves clients precious time and money. Whether you need someone to hold your hand through uncharted territory, or to give a concise executive level overview, Natalie will explain all your options and guide you to the path that best suits your business’s needs.

Adapt and Overcome

Things happen. Sometimes a litigation takes an unexpected turn. Sometimes the law changes in a direction that doesn’t align with a client’s goals. No matter what the situation, Natalie has proven time and again that she can take the challenge head-on and come out on top. She finds creative solutions to make the things that happen work to your advantage. As the landscape surrounding software patents continually changes, Natalie continually finds new ways to obtain and uphold these patents.

Technically Speaking

Having graduated at the top of her electrical engineering class, Natalie understands complex technologies. As a result, she is able to comfortably communicate with inventors on a detailed level, and to appreciate the fine points of patents and products at issue. Moreover, she can translate these important technical details to non-technical audiences. These skills have proven to be a critical asset in studying validity and infringement of patents, preparing written opinions, and challenging and defending patents through post issuance proceedings.

Tailored Approach

Whether she is litigating, obtaining patents or trademark registrations, or negotiating an agreement, Natalie takes a customized approach, thinking carefully about both short and long term strategies that best suit her clients under each unique set of facts. With roots in customer service, she lends individualized attention to clients in a broad range of industries and technologies – including computer hardware and software, communications, medical devices, industrial equipment, and manufacturing, just to name a few. Her consideration of the big picture, coupled with her keen interest in her clients’ business goals, provides critical guidance in managing IP portfolios for startups, large multinational corporations, and everything in-between.

Candid Communication

Natalie works tirelessly to protect her clients’ brands, ideas, and inventions. But she’s also a straight shooter, and won’t hesitate to say when the investment might not be worthwhile. Natalie’s clear and candid communication saves clients precious time and money. Whether you need someone to hold your hand through uncharted territory, or to give a concise executive level overview, Natalie will explain all your options and guide you to the path that best suits your business’s needs.

Adapt and Overcome

Things happen. Sometimes a litigation takes an unexpected turn. Sometimes the law changes in a direction that doesn’t align with a client’s goals. No matter what the situation, Natalie has proven time and again that she can take the challenge head-on and come out on top. She finds creative solutions to make the things that happen work to your advantage. As the landscape surrounding software patents continually changes, Natalie continually finds new ways to obtain and uphold these patents.

Technically Speaking

Having graduated at the top of her electrical engineering class, Natalie understands complex technologies. As a result, she is able to comfortably communicate with inventors on a detailed level, and to appreciate the fine points of patents and products at issue. Moreover, she can translate these important technical details to non-technical audiences. These skills have proven to be a critical asset in studying validity and infringement of patents, preparing written opinions, and challenging and defending patents through post issuance proceedings.

Whether she is litigating, obtaining patents or trademark registrations, or negotiating an agreement, Natalie takes a customized approach, thinking carefully about both short and long term strategies that best suit her clients under each unique set of facts. With roots in customer service, she lends individualized attention to clients in a broad range of industries and technologies – including computer hardware and software, communications, medical devices, industrial equipment, and manufacturing, just to name a few. Her consideration of the big picture, coupled with her keen interest in her clients’ business goals, provides critical guidance in managing IP portfolios for startups, large multinational corporations, and everything in-between.

Candid Communication

Natalie works tirelessly to protect her clients’ brands, ideas, and inventions. But she’s also a straight shooter, and won’t hesitate to say when the investment might not be worthwhile. Natalie’s clear and candid communication saves clients precious time and money. Whether you need someone to hold your hand through uncharted territory, or to give a concise executive level overview, Natalie will explain all your options and guide you to the path that best suits your business’s needs.

Adapt and Overcome

Things happen. Sometimes a litigation takes an unexpected turn. Sometimes the law changes in a direction that doesn’t align with a client’s goals. No matter what the situation, Natalie has proven time and again that she can take the challenge head-on and come out on top. She finds creative solutions to make the things that happen work to your advantage. As the landscape surrounding software patents continually changes, Natalie continually finds new ways to obtain and uphold these patents.

Technically Speaking

Having graduated at the top of her electrical engineering class, Natalie understands complex technologies. As a result, she is able to comfortably communicate with inventors on a detailed level, and to appreciate the fine points of patents and products at issue. Moreover, she can translate these important technical details to non-technical audiences. These skills have proven to be a critical asset in studying validity and infringement of patents, preparing written opinions, and challenging and defending patents through post issuance proceedings.

Sony Wins Knock-out Jury Verdict

Sony Corporation and four of its subsidiaries (Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC, Sony Electronics Inc., and Sony Corporation of America) prevailed on all counts of non-infringement and invalidity in a jury trial in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California against Television Interactive Data Corporation ("TVI"). TVI had alleged that Sony's Blu ray players, DVD players, and PlayStation3 consoles infringed claims in four patents related to autoplay of optical discs (DVDs and Blu-ray discs). The asserted patents are U.S. Patent Nos. 5,597,307; 5,795,156; 6,249,863; and 6,418,532. After a three week jury trial, the nine member jury delivered a verdict finding that Sony did not infringe any claim and that all asserted claims were invalid as anticipated and obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art. TVI had requested damages of $84M plus enhanced damages for alleged willful infringement. The jury delivered a knock-out blow to all of TVI's allegations. As reported in the March 28, 2013 edition of IPLaw360 "We felt very strongly from the beginning that there was no infringement, and that the patents were invalid," said Sony's attorney Greg Gewirtz of Lerner David. During closing arguments, Mr. Gewirtz made clear that Sony fought the battle with TVI "because of true justice, true principle" as Sony created and implemented autoplay in optical disc players well before TVI's patents were filed. The lawsuit was first filed in 2009 when TVI sued about a dozen consumer electronics companies alleging that all DVD and Blu-ray players infringed its patents. Sony was the only remaining defendant in the case and was very pleased to confirm its beliefs that its products did not use TVI's technology and that all asserted patent claims were invalid.

Sony Wins Successful Settlement of Blu-ray Patent Dispute

SONY DADC U.S. INC. v. TARGET TECHNOLOGY, LLC ET AL. , SA CV 04-1083 (DOC), CDCA. Sony successfully intervened in a lawsuit in April 2007 that was pending in the Central District of California between Target Technologies, LLC and Williams Advanced Materials, Inc. and others. Target had asserted that it owned a large family of patents covering optical discs, such as Sony's Blu-ray DVDs. We asserted that Sony was the actual owner of the patents and succeeded in obtaining a favorable settlement for Sony in late 2008.